Hey guys. Long time lurker, but never posted before. Just thought I'd drop a link to a website my friend and I are working on to host our games. Since you guys partially inspired our name, I figured we owe it to you to at least let you take a peak. :D
At Misery Tourism Games, we design role-playing games about vice, inhumanity and suffering. On this site you'll find terrible games about terrible people in terrible situations.
We don't design games to make a moral point or push an agenda. We don't design games to offend you or your sociology professor or your congressman. We do it because we believe there is fun to be had in exploring tragedy and depravity with your friends in the safety of your kitchen, den or mother's basement. Yes, fun. These are fun games. Or they should be.
Have fun.
//www.miserytourism.com
Would you guys have any interest in my Capricorn: Forbidden Desires game? I mean, right now it's just a game about people that fuck goats, but I could tweak the setting so that the goats are an oppressed minority or something if you think that's better. I really need an editor who can compensate for my white male cis-priv style.
Quote1915. The darkest moment for American race relations since the Civil War. Jim Crow rules the American South. All of the progress towards racial equality made during Reconstruction has been undone by poll taxes, segregation, sharecropping and intimidation.
Sundown towns spread across the country. Their name comes from one unbreakable rule: only whites are allowed in town after the sun sets. The punishment for blacks who linger within the town limits at night is rarely stated, but universally understood.
In one of these sundown towns, a group of local leaders meets on Saturday nights to talk civics, play cards and wax nostalgic about slavery. They are the town aristocracy. They plan business deals and church picnics. They investigate newcomers and see that the law is enforced.
Normally, they would be talking about the price of tobacco and the lost honor of the Confederacy, but not recently, not since they found the first dead man. Now they are talking about bloodless corpses and the superstitious rumors spreading among the sharecroppers. Now they’re talking about vampires.
What these gentlemen do not know is that one of them is the vampire. What they also do not know is one of them was born black, and has been carefully keeping his secret to protect his position and his life. As suspicion grows, it becomes harder and harder for both of these men to preserve their reputations—and their lives.
Passing is a simple, rules light RPG about paranoia, racism and identity. It weaves together vampire folklore and the ugly realities of American history to let players build a story about closed communities and closed minds. The game requires little preparation, and uses competitive social mechanics to keep the players on edge, full of questions and suspicious of each other. It is designed for four or more players and takes between one and two hours to complete.
Read the rules for this, the game ends with the white folks killing a vampire or mistaking a half-black man as the vampire and then murdering him. Why anyone would want to play this repulsive crap is beyond me.
I hate Swine.
Quote from: B.T.;525239Read the rules for this, the game ends with the white folks killing a vampire or mistaking a half-black man as the vampire and then murdering him. Why anyone would want to play this repulsive crap is beyond me.
I hate Swine.
But this is a game about the sexist, racist, nasty, closed-minded America of your dreams, B.T.!
I do hope your post was joking, because I've just had a full-colour, deluxe leather-bound hardback edition mailed to you. April surprise!
* Disclaimer: I haven't actually mailed anything to anyone.
Oh dear, you lot have been fooled.
:duh:
April Fools! is my guess.
Quote from: danbuter;525261April Fools! is my guess.
Was mine as well. Almost too over the top - plus grinning smileys.
Quote from: One Horse Town;525257Oh dear, you lot have been fooled.
:duh:
Well, just BT really.
But we expect that kind of thickness from him.
That's really elaborate prank though.
That was an elaborate prank, then.
I can't comment about whether or not this is a prank, but I can say that the site is real, the games are real and every one of them has been playtested, multiple times.
Quote from: VectorSigma;525227Would you guys have any interest in my Capricorn: Forbidden Desires game?
We aren't taking submissions, yet, but I can say, personally, that I would absolutely be willing to playtest that game--even though it doesn't exist--and give you a detailed critique based on my experiences.
Quote from: Fetus Commander;525207Hey guys. Long time lurker, but never posted before. Just thought I'd drop a link to a website my friend and I are working on to host our games. Since you guys partially inspired our name, I figured we owe it to you to at least let you take a peak. :D
At Misery Tourism Games, we design role-playing games about vice, inhumanity and suffering.
I kinda got that impression from the alias "Fetus Commander."
JG
Would you guys be willing to edit my concept for an RPG where players are struggling working-class Americans seeing their prosperity and freedoms eroding more steadily by the day and forced to choose between an increasingly cretinous and shameless group of career politicians to vote for, with the ultimate horror being the knowledge that one of them has to WIN?
JG
Quote from: James Gillen;525477Would you guys be willing to edit my concept for an RPG where players are struggling working-class Americans seeing their prosperity and freedoms eroding more steadily by the day and forced to choose between an increasingly cretinous and shameless group of career politicians to vote for, with the ultimate horror being the knowledge that one of them has to WIN?
No, this game is too disturbing for us. Maybe if Barrack Obama was a lycanthrope and Mitt Romney was a Martian pedophile.
Seriously though, if that's a real game, how do the mechanics work? Would the politicians be strictly NPCs? Would their be a SuperPAC attack ad mechanic? Could you abstain from voting or write in the name of one of the Muppets from Sesame Street? I think there are a billion different interesting directions that game could go in.
Quote from: whduryea;525480No, this game is too disturbing for us.
I Win!!!! :D
Quote from: James Gillen;525477Would you guys be willing to edit my concept for an RPG where players are struggling working-class Americans seeing their prosperity and freedoms eroding more steadily by the day and forced to choose between an increasingly cretinous and shameless group of career politicians to vote for, with the ultimate horror being the knowledge that one of them has to WIN?
JG
I'd call it The Call of Congress.
Quote from: whduryea;525475I can't comment about whether or not this is a prank, but I can say that the site is real, the games are real and every one of them has been playtested, multiple times.
Wow. Actually, honest to goddess, storygamers.
Quote from: Ladybird;525517Wow. Actually, honest to goddess, storygamers.
Indeed.
I think this is going to Other Games.
Quote from: James Gillen;525477Would you guys be willing to edit my concept for an RPG where players are struggling working-class Americans seeing their prosperity and freedoms eroding more steadily by the day and forced to choose between an increasingly cretinous and shameless group of career politicians to vote for, with the ultimate horror being the knowledge that one of them has to WIN?
It would make an interesting boardgame. A satirical, vicious non-partisan look at the state of modern US elections would be a good product in 2012.
Years ago, I playtested a boardgame called Dirty Rotten Scum where you played a CEO of a thoroughly corrupt company and you used all sorts of underhanded options to promote your company. BUT the key to winning was the CEO with the most money so it was a totally legit strategy to screw your own company over and loot it on your way out.
Unfortunately, the game took too long (4-6 hours) and the designer lost interest while trying to get it into a 2-3 hour format.
Quote from: Spinachcat;526193It would make an interesting boardgame. A satirical, vicious non-partisan look at the state of modern US elections would be a good product in 2012.
Years ago, I playtested a boardgame called Dirty Rotten Scum where you played a CEO of a thoroughly corrupt company and you used all sorts of underhanded options to promote your company. BUT the key to winning was the CEO with the most money so it was a totally legit strategy to screw your own company over and loot it on your way out.
Unfortunately, the game took too long (4-6 hours) and the designer lost interest while trying to get it into a 2-3 hour format.
Kremlin was a good boardgame.
Quote from: whduryea;525480Maybe if Barrack Obama was a lycanthrope and Mitt Romney was a Martian pedophile.
They're not?
As far as I know, there are no Mormons on Mars. Could be wrong about the rest though.
Quote from: jibbajibba;526261Kremlin was a good boardgame.
It does seem amazingly similar.
JG
Since we made this thread, we've added two new games:
http://www.miserytourism.com/mentors/
http://www.miserytourism.com/welfarequeens/
QuoteIt's 2084, and wealth has finished trickling down. One hundred years of supply side economics has eradicated poverty and want throughout the United States. The American Dream isn't just a possibility for everyone; it's a reality. Every man and woman goes to work wearing a white collar and comes home to a spacious penthouse. They only go hungry when they're counting calories, and the only oppression they know is a tight deadline.
But still, some are dissatisfied. For them, the paperwork is too demanding, or life in a cubicle is too boring. They need to find an outlet for their stress, or a safe, discrete thrill. They need to get away from themselves, and get off.
They find what they're looking for in black market virtual reality parlors called empathy dens. Hidden in basements and the backrooms of hobby shops, empathy dens let their clients experience the exotic past and find the freedom and adventure they crave—by living the lives of poor people in the twentieth century on public assistance. By day, they're the titans of Wall Street, but at night they become Welfare Queens.
Welfare Queens is a role-playing game about a not-so-distant future America where white collar professionals spend their nights in back alley arcades, living virtual lives of poverty and desperation. Bored and overwhelmed by their day jobs, the stock brokers, accountants mid level executives of the late 21st century find adventure and catharsis through their experiences as hookers, drug pushers, trailer trash and panhandlers.
This is grade-A troll material.
Quote from: B.T.;546678This is grade-A troll material.
You of all people would know. :D
I pray to God these people are trolls, but nothing surprises me anymore.
It's so wrong it's right... like a moth to a flame, I wanna play Welfare Queens! It sounds sorta like "Strange Days" the RPG. I just don't want to deal with bookkeeping a Fate pool or people telling me how to trigger off my Aspects.
Quote from: Opaopajr;548432I just don't want to deal with bookkeeping a Fate pool or people telling me how to trigger off my Aspects.
There's none of that in the game.
The empathy den parts are straight up freeform, and the workplace parts have a fairly straightforward dice mechanic.
There are a couple basic things that trigger after you leave the empathy den that give you bonus dice in the workplace parts based on how badly you humiliated yourself, but that happens between scenes so that the game doesn't come to a halt while the players fumble with the mechanics.
Hey again guys. It's the first of the month!
http://www.miserytourism.com/the-needs-of-the-few/
This is all some weird practical joke, yes?
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;555350This is all some weird practical joke, yes?
I refer back to my post #13 and the company's response.
JG
And another one:
http://www.miserytourism.com/6pagemanual/
Edit: Oh, and what do you dudes think of our new logo?
Quote from: whduryea;576638And another one:
http://www.miserytourism.com/6pagemanual/
Edit: Oh, and what do you dudes think of our new logo?
Can't get much more miserable than a starving, naked child stalked by vultures!
JG
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Looks like a regular success story to me.
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I'd rather not, thanks.
Quote from: Melan;576756Looks like a regular success story to me.
Honestly, by Story Games standards, that's not so bad. :rotfl:
Could be worse. Could be jeepform.
Some of it is. (http://www.miserytourism.com/dansemacabre/)
Quote from: whduryea;576638And another one:
http://www.miserytourism.com/6pagemanual/
Edit: Oh, and what do you dudes think of our new logo?
What the hell is a "fifteen side die"? Platonic solids have even numbers of sides.
Quote from: StormBringer;586648What the hell is a "fifteen side die"? Platonic solids have even numbers of sides.
Could be a d30 with the numbers doubled 1-15. Or with digital dice rollers you can do any range of numbers now. Maybe that is what is meant?
I thought there was a Zocchi die for that already. I know that I'm gonna alpha-test Welfare Queens w/ my friends one day though. We might even bust out the "truth or dare" Jenga for task resolution.
Quote from: StormBringer;586648What the hell is a "fifteen side die"? Platonic solids have even numbers of sides.
It's a Socratic solid.
Quote from: whduryea;587179It's a Socratic solid.
:hatsoff:
You folks are pretty good sports coming into 'enemy' territory and all. Best of luck with your games and your company!
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;586734Could be a d30 with the numbers doubled 1-15. Or with digital dice rollers you can do any range of numbers now. Maybe that is what is meant?
That's possible. It might even be a good idea. I've probably mentioned before, but I would rather have a 'spherical' die than a spindle die. The spindle shape is cool and all, but from a d10 up, they are virtually unreadable, and I can't imagine they are actually a fair die. But those damn Greeks messed everything up and now we can't have nice things. ;)
If you do decide to play one of our games, tell us how much you hated it. (http://www.miserytourism.com/want-to-talk-about-it/)
And now we have a Kickstarter:
The Misery Index: Terrible Games about Terrible Realities (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1019114683/the-misery-index-terrible-games-about-terrible-rea)
QuoteA collection of eight tabletop games about human suffering.
The Misery Index will be a collection of eight tabletop games about human suffering. Each game approaches a different miserable topic with unique mechanics. Our games tackle subjects ranging from racial and cultural violence to sexual abuse, class conflict, and mental illness, and do so through the lens of multiple genres, including science fiction, sword and sorcery, cyberpunk, supernatural horror, and superhero fantasy.
Quote from: whduryea;676773And now we have a Kickstarter:
The Misery Index: Terrible Games about Terrible Realities (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1019114683/the-misery-index-terrible-games-about-terrible-rea)
I hope it fails.
Quote from: The Traveller;679877I hope it fails.
Coincidentally, a game about the sense of vague depression bought on by a failed kickstarter project is one of the stretch goals.
Quote from: VectorSigma;525227Would you guys have any interest in my Capricorn: Forbidden Desires game? I mean, right now it's just a game about people that fuck goats, but I could tweak the setting so that the goats are an oppressed minority or something if you think that's better. I really need an editor who can compensate for my white male cis-priv style.
Hole in one :D
Quote from: TristramEvans;679885Hole in one :D
Stretch goal, obv.
Anyone heard anything about this being a bona fide attempt to troll via kickstarter?
Quote from: The Traveller;680203Anyone heard anything about this being a bona fide attempt to troll via kickstarter?
Does that add up, really?
There's over a year and a half of consistent, documented work here.
You can read the games. You can play them right now.
We have a well respected guy doing our layout. We've posted specs for the book.
Rudy and I have done multiple interviews about the project.
I can understand people thinking that there might be a tongue-in-cheek aspect to the games themselves, but we are 100% committed to delivering exactly what we've promised.
Quote from: The Traveller;680203Anyone heard anything about this being a bona fide attempt to troll via kickstarter?
They are genuine. I remember how we all were having a chuckle, as the site went up on April's Fools and we patted ourselves on the back and chuckled and said "Hah, such a wicked joke at those Storygamers expense".
And then we saw the site remain.
Quote from: The Traveller;680203Anyone heard anything about this being a bona fide attempt to troll via kickstarter?
I think that's a rumour created by those that want it to be true.
Quote from: Skywalker;680230I think that's a rumour created by those that want it to be true.
This is the only conclusion that makes sense to me.
The dude on RPGnet says he has some kind of inside source, but there's no way that's true, because there's no one working on this project but Rudy, Jonathan, and myself.
And I've never had a conversation with anyone about the project that could even be misconstrued as "har, har, we're trolling them dudes."
It's just a really weird rumor. I can't make sense of how it got started unless someone saw the project, said, "Damn, that must be a troll," and then decided to concoct a story to back up that conclusion.
Quote from: whduryea;680236It's just a really weird rumor. I can't make sense of how it got started unless someone saw the project, said, "Damn, that must be a troll," and then decided to concoct a story to back up that conclusion.
That would be Topher in action once again.
I'm now in a weirdly dissonant place where I can't decide which of the sides is creepier and less worthy of support.
I know the entire project is in poor taste, but I think using a stylised version of that Kevin Carter photo as a logo is just about the poorest taste thing I have ever seen in an RPG.
Quote from: The Traveller;680278That would be Topher in action once again.
I'm now in a weirdly dissonant place where I can't decide which of the sides is creepier and less worthy of support.
Creepy, creepier, creepiest; they're all creeps.
Still, Topher's against these guys, so that's a mark in their favour.
Quote from: Rincewind1;680217They are genuine. I remember how we all were having a chuckle, as the site went up on April's Fools and we patted ourselves on the back and chuckled and said "Hah, such a wicked joke at those Storygamers expense".
And then we saw the site remain.
Is Fetus Commander still around? We could get him to start a thread about it.
Apparently, it's now mooted as an RPGsite sponsored troll - despite the evidence in this thread that they've been trolling this site for months.
Quote from: whduryea;679923Stretch goal, obv.
Flatterer! Actually the reference is to an old thread here somewhere where I talked about "Capricorn: Forbidden Desires" being the one-shot angsty storygame version of the pulp-action trad-rpg "Goatfuckers, Inc." - ie, could one 'reskin' a trad game to appeal to a more 'marketable' market etc etc.
Best of luck with your Kickstarter, regardless.
Quote from: One Horse Town;680325Apparently, it's now mooted as an RPGsite sponsored troll - despite the evidence in this thread that they've been trolling this site for months.
Which is very ironic, considering that I expect many of members here'd probably sooner drive a nail through their hand than play those games, while considering latest "Rapist: The Sentencing", it fits very well with MO of certain RPG.net usuals.
Yeah, if they didn't deliberately brand their own games as Misery Tourism, they would be the toast of awfulpurple.
Quote from: CRKrueger;681807Yeah, if they didn't deliberately brand their own games as Misery Tourism, they would be the toast of awfulpurple.
Even they don't like being laughed at.
Once they REALIZE they're being laughed at, anyway.
JG
And we're funded!
Quote from: whduryea;687612And we're funded!
Congratulations
Joy to the world, blah blah blah blah...
Well I for one, am genuinely glad you guys funded. I mean, I doubt I'll ever feel a need to play one of your games, but I can't say I wished you failure neither.
Quote from: The Traveller;680203Anyone heard anything about this being a bona fide attempt to troll via kickstarter?
Sufficiently advanced trolling is indistinguishable from sincerity.
Cheers,
-E.
Quote from: whduryea;687612And we're funded!
There is no such thing as bad publicity. :D
JG
The books have been printed and shipped to our backers, and we still have copies remaining.
If you're interested, the collection is available for sale in both print and PDF formats here:
www.miserytourism.com/miseryindex/ (http://www.miserytourism.com/miseryindex/)
Quote from: whduryea;746604The books have been printed and shipped to our backers, and we still have copies remaining.
If you're interested, the collection is available for sale in both print and PDF formats here:
www.miserytourism.com/miseryindex/ (http://www.miserytourism.com/miseryindex/)
I like unusual games...but sorry, they all sound absolutely awful.
Quote from: whduryea;746604The books have been printed and shipped to our backers, and we still have copies remaining.
If you're interested, the collection is available for sale in both print and PDF formats here:
www.miserytourism.com/miseryindex/ (http://www.miserytourism.com/miseryindex/)
Any third-party reviews of the games?
Not as of yet, but we would happily make review copies of the PDF available to any sites or blogs interested in writing one.